Baptism at Tigre - Saturday, August 14, 2010

The only thing on our agenda today was to clean the apartment, go grocery shopping, and Rich to perform a baptism in Tigre. So we didn't have to set the alarm and I was looking forward to that. Rich was up at 7:00 and I managed to get up forty five minutes later.

After showering and doing makeup and hair, I started my Saturday cleaning while Rich worked on his Sunday School lesson. Tomorrow he starts teaching a marriage class and there is no manual in the Branch. He can get it off the internet so he worked quietly sitting on the couch, until he realized what I was doing and then he volunteered to vacuum the floors. My "Oh, you don't have to" response wasn't very convincing and he was on it in a heartbeat. What a guy!

Usually Saturday mornings are pretty quiet for medical calls, but this morning I had three. Then a couple elders called regarding some supplies they needed. My phone was hummin'!

We called Elder Peterson to coordinate using the car if it was available in order to do our grocery shopping at WalMart today. He said that he needed a ride to the mission home to get the President's car to replace a burned out headlight, so we agreed on a time to meet at the office. The Gulbrandsens were leaving their home at 12:45 to go to the airport for a trip to the South this weekend, so he wanted to wait until they were gone before stealing his car.

President and Sister Gulbrandsen were going to Rio Grande to meet with ward and branch leadership. Since Mission Presidents act as Stake Presidents to Districts in the church that are within their mission boundaries, he had never met the leaders in this area, so he needed to pay them a visit to introduce himself and get acquainted. It will be a short trip as they are returning Monday afternoon.

Enroute to the mission home, we asked Elder Peterson and Elder Leavitt (who is his companion until tomorrow night when Elder Paz moves in) if they were interested in going to Burger King for lunch. There is one close to the mission home and it would be a good change from McDonalds -- our treat! They tried to resist because they didn't want us to feel we had to pay all the time, but it is a no win situation when dealing with the likes of us. This is one small way that we can support the missionary effort and we like doing it. Besides, we didn't want to eat alone. My, oh my, it was a busy place on this Saturday. They were giving McDonald's a run for their money. The food was great and we had a fun time with them. No picture!! What were we thinking??

We dropped the elders off at the mission home and made our way to WalMart on untraveled roads. We pulled up WalMart on the GPS and it took us there a different route, not going back through San Fernando to get there. It was an interesting ride through some pretty sketchy areas. Even the GPS would warn us at times that we were in an unsafe area. Really!! It did! I knew it would inform us if we were coming to a dangerous intersection traffic wise, but the voice behind the GPS came on a couple of times and let us know we were in an undesireable area of town.

For a Saturday, WalMart was not crowded at all. Our main purpose for going there to shop was to find some regular old scales that are not made of glass and are not digital. We needed to upgrade the ones at the mission home used for weighing missionary luggage on the day of departure, and having one in the office is good in case it is needed there. Bingo!! We found exactly what we needed. Go WalMart! Now, who knows, I may never need to go there again since Carrefour is as big as WalMart and has exactly the same things -- and it's closer.

The fish display is always "up close and personal" here and in other supermarkets. The shrimp looked good, but the other weird things -- well, I don't think so!

That octopus looking thing looked so gross as did the slimy intestine looking things next to it. Somebody must buy them. I'll stick with shrimp and salmon, thank you!

We got home and just had time to put the groceries away and it was time to get dressed in our missionary attire and take off for Tigre. The sisters called Elder Kroff yesterday and said that their investigator who was going to be baptised wanted him to perform the ordinance. We made arrangements with the elders to use the car instead of taking the bus to get there, so it was only a fifteen minute ride to the chapel.

Sisters Romo and Shaffer taught Javier Ariel Delgado the gospel. He was a member of the Gospel Principles class that Rich taught in Tigre and he said way back then that he wanted Elder Kroff to baptize him. He has been dragging his feet to get it done, but tonight was the night. Rich was happy to do it and Hermano Delgado was so happy to see Elder Kroff, and was happy to be joining the church.

We were warmly greeted by our friends in Tigre. Many hugs and kisses were exchanged and we were told how much we were missed. It was so fun to see everyone and it did make me homesick to attend church there. They were excited we were extending until December.

Elder Kroff and some priesthood brethren at Tigre, with the newest member of the branch, Hermano Delgado.

The Olmeldo family came to support the baptism of their eight year old family member. The little girl in red was baptized tonight also. I cannot remember her name. The baby, Delfina, is just 20 days old. Sooo tiny and beautiful. Sister Olmeldo (in the back) said when our daughters come in October, she is coming to the Virreyes branch on the Sunday that they will be here. She is very anxious to meet them. Too bad the meetings are not staggered or we could attend both branches. Everything starts at 9:00/9:30 around here.

After a very enjoyable evening, we came home, put the pictures on the computer, and I started the journal entry but became too tired to finish. We noticed some dark streets as we approached our apartment building, and wondered if our lights were out. They were not, but half of the area was blacked out. That's never happened before. We are usually in the dark if our neighbors across the street don't have lights. Strange!